Bulletin.



pending the bulletins OFFICE. 7

CHARLES J. WEBB, OF RUSSELLVILLE, ARKANSAS.

7 BULLETIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 4:, 1917.

Application filed May 26, 1916. Serial No. 100,138.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CirArLns J. 131313, a citizen of the United States, residing at Russellville, in the county of Pope and State of Arkansas, have invented a new and useful Bulletin, of which the following is a specification.

The device forming the subject matter of this application is adapted to be employed for displaying bulletins of any desired sort. The structure may be used advantageously on a. street car, for displaying to passengers, the streets which the car is approaching. It may be employed on a railway vehicle for displaying the names of the stations, one after another, and for calling the attention of passengers to hotels at the various stations. The structure is not confined, however, to the uses above mentioned, but may be put to other purposes which will suggest themselves readily.

The invention aims to provide novel means whereby the bulletins are guided and directed in their sliding movements; to provide novel means whereby a holder for susmay be shifted from the bulletin; to provide novel means whereby a bulletin may be inserted readily into the case and with equal facility be removed therefrom; and, generally, to improve and to enhance the utility of devices of that type to which the present invention appertains.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 shows in front elevation, a bulletin displaying device constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the structure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is an elevation of the holding mechanism whereby the bulletins are suspended, the supporting track or bracket appearing in section; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmental perspective illustrating the guides for the bulletins, and the means whereby the bulletins are suspended in a lowered position.

In carrying out the present invention there is provided a case 1 which may be of any desired form, it being understood that the case may be decorated according to the taste of the user. The case comprises a bottom 2, a back 3, sides 1, a front 5 extended but part way up the case and defining an opening 6 adjacent the top of the case and at the front thereof, and a relatively narrow top strip 7 to which a vertically swinging lid 8 is attached by means of hinges 9. A skilled mechanic will appreciate the fact that the particular form of case shown may be changed without jeopardizing the utility of the invention.

Extended longitudinally of the case 1 on the interior thereof and preferably secured to the sides 4 are upright guides 12 which, in the present embodiment terminate at their lower ends adjacent the upper edge of the front 5. Disposed transversely of the case 1 and extending from the front of the case toward the back thereof, are stop cleats 10 which may be attached to the lower ends of the guides 12. In the upof the invention,

per edges of the stop cleats 10, notches or seats 11 are formed, the same being alined with the spaces between the guides 12. Adjacent their forward ends, the stop cleats l0 carry keepers 14 which may be hooks. Mounted on the cleats 10 adjacent the rear ends of the cleats are latches 15 which may be resilient bars or strips, terminated at their rear ends incoiled springs 16. The latches 15 tend normally to spring to the upstanding position indicated in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

The invention comprises any desired number of bulletins 17, in the form of plates, equipped at their upper ends with transverse top bars 18 which extend beyond the upright longitudinal edges of the bulletins. The eX- tremities of the top bars 18 are mounted to slide between the guides 12 and are adapted to be received in the notches ll of the stop cleats 10, when the bulletins 17 are lowered as shown in Fig. 2. The bulletins 17 may be inscribed in any desired manner, depending upon the end which the invention is intended to accomplish. If the structure is to used on a railway car, then the bulletins 17 may be inscribed as shown at 19 with the farers. The top bars 18 of the bulletins 17 may be equipped with upstanding eyes 21.

Mounted on the forward face of the back 3 of the case 1, at a pointintermedi'ate the sides of the case are superposed bearings 22 in which journaled for rotation, the vertical arm 23 of a bracket or track, the horizontal arm of which appears at 2%, the construction being such that the arm. 2a of the bracket may be swung horizontally from side to side,for a purpose which will be set forth hereinafter, the horizontal arm of the bracket coacting with the uppermost bearing 22 to prevent the bracket from moving downwardly. At its outer end, the arm 2% of the bracket is provided with an enlargement adapted to prevent the accidental displacement of holders on the arm. The holders 26 may be of any desired construction, but in the present instance, they have been shown in the form of a spring clip of known construction, including arms 2'? pivot-ally connected intermediate their ends as shown at 98 and terminating at their lower extremities in cooperating jaws caused to ceact by the effort of a spring 30 introduced between. the arms 27. There is one of the holders 26 for each of the bulletins 17, the jaws 29 of the holders being adapted to coact with the eyes 21 at the upper ends of the bulletins.

Presupposing that the structure is to be employed on a railway vehicle, all of the bulletins are raised up by an attendant upon the vehicle, the eyes 21 at the upper ends of the bulletins being engaged by the l'cSPECtlVG holders 26. The face of the foremost bulletin thus is exposed and, as indicated at 19, the name of the neXt station which the train is approaching, is indicated to the passengers. Further, as shown at '20, a list of hotels at that particular station is exposed. When a station, the name of which appears at 19 when the bulletin 17 has been passed, that particular bulletin which is in front, is per mitted to drop, the holder '26 being released. 'When the bulletin passes downwardly, the ends of the top bar 18 of the bulletin slide downwardly between the guides 12 and ultimately engage the stop cleats 10 to limit the downward movement of the bulletin, the ends of the top bars being received in the notches 11 of the stop cleats, an operation which will be understood readily from Figs. 2 and a. The next bulletin thus is exposed, indicating the station which the train is approaching.

Should it be desired to hold down some or all of the bulletins, then the latches 15 may be swung forwardly from the upstanding positions shown in Fig. 4, the free ends of the latches being engaged with the keepers 1a which are carried by the forward ends of the stop cleats 10.

Atthe end of a run, or when it is desired to change all of the bulletins 17 in the case, the bracket Mr-28 is swung around to one side so that the arm 24: of the bracket will not lie above the bulletins, the arm 23 of the bracketrotat-ing in the bearings 22. Under such circumstances, the arm 24: of thebracket may be disposed parallel to the back 3 of the case, or substantially parallel thereto. The

lid 8 may be raised, and, finally, all of the:

bulletins 17 may he slid upwardly out of the guides 12, a new set of bulletins being introduced, and the holders 26 on all of the bulletins being engaged with the arm 24,- of the bracket, so that the bulletins may be upheld in the manner hereinbefore described.

But few bulletins 17 have been 5' un in the drawings, in order that the same may be simplified, but it is to be understood that in practice, many more bulletins than are shown in the drawings may be used.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is In a deidce of the class described, a case including a back and sides; stop cleats extended transversely of the sides and disposed intermediate the top and the bottom of the case; upright guides on the sides of the case and extended downwardly from the top of the case to the cleats; bulletins having end projections slidably received between the guides and adapted to engage the stop cleats when t 1c bulletins are lowered; a latch eoacting with one stop cleat and with the projections of all of the bulletins to hold the bulletins in lowered position; a bracket mounted to swing on the back and including a forwardly presented arm lying above the,

bulletins and below the upper ends of the guides; and gripping means slidable on the arm for engaging any bulletin, the bracket being rotatable to dispose the forwardly presented arm in substantial parallelism to the back of the case, and out of the path of all of the bulletins, whereby all of the bulletins may be lifted vertically, to permit the projections to ride out of engagement with the guides at the upper ends thereof.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto ailiXed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES J. WEBB. \Vitnesses:

PIERCE N. PETTY, Gno. J. Swnn'rnn.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

